Junior Olympics (Solution No. 3,354)

Have another solution while Sabers competes at JOs.




Legend: “*” anagram; “~” sounds like; “<“ letters reversed; “( )” letters inserted; “_” or lower case: letters deleted; “†” explicit in the clue, “^” first or last letter or letters, “{“ relocated letter or letters; “§” heteronym, “¶” letter bank, “‡” Spoonerism

Across

1a	COMPOS (MEN)T IS	COMPOST (“organic matter”) containing MEN (“half the population”) + IS (†) Good misdirection with “sound”
10a	PUB *ESCENT	PUB (“tavern”) + *SCENT (“aroma,” anagram indicated by “exotic”)
11a	*RHETT_	*THRE_a_T (anagram indicated by “vicious,” omission of A indicated by “withholding bit of alcohol”)
12a	*CATER	*REACT (anagram indicated by “badly”)
13a	THE OC RACY	THE OC (“televised teen drama”) + RACY (“risqué”)
14a	BILL	Double definition
15a	A CUTE ANGLE	A (†) + CUTE (“pretty”) + ANGLE (“fish”)
19a	*RETROGRADE	*ORDER GREAT (anagram indicated by “cocktail”)
21a	<SLAP<	<PALS< (“friends,” reversal indicated by “back”)
24a	PA(RAM O)UNT	PUNT (“to kick”) containing (“around”) RAM (“a sheep”) + O “love”)
26a	EPOXY	Pun
27a	G _UILT	^G^enerate (first letter indicated by “start”) + _q_UILT (“blanket,” omission of first letter indicated by “late arriving”)
28a	*CAMBODIAN	*BACON [with] MAID (anagram indicated by “fried”)
29a	¶ECCLESIASTES	¶CASTILE (letter bank indicated by “assembled out of letters from”) What say you solvers?  Would you be OK with “bank” or some synonym being sufficient as an indicator of a letterbank?  Or “spoon” for a Spoonerism?

Down

2d	OR(BIT)AL	BIT (“particle”) contained in (“between”) OR [Oregon] + AL [Alabama] (“two states”) Unusual in that both the wordplay and the definition are not easy.  I got it since I’m a scientist, but there are a lot of states and a lot of synonyms for “particle.”
3d	PAS TRY	PA’S (“father’s) + TRY (“attempt”)
4d	SMELT	Double definition
5d	*ENTR(EAT)ED	*TENDER (anagram indicated by “bats”) containing (“to accept”) EAT (“swallow”)
6d	TU(*RNCOA)T	TUT (“king”) containing (“imprisons”) *NARCO (anagram indicated by “lunatic”)
7d	SHE BANG	SHE (“woman”) + BANG (“noise of a gun”)
8d	SPACE BAR	Double definition.
9d	S(T)AY	SAY (“for instance”) containing (“taking”) T (“time”)
16d	CARB UNCLE	UNCLE (“I give up”) preceding (“before”) CARB (“bread or pasta”)
17d	*EMPT(Y)ING	Y (“yellow”) contained in (“in”) *PIGMENT (anagram indicated by “variegated”)
18d	*COSMETIC	*COSMIC SET (anagram indicated by “outrageous”)
20d	TER M ITE	TERM (“name”) + MITE (“an insect”), overlap of the two components indicated by “tail and head overlapping”) That’s a first.  I like it.
22d	~LIONIZE	~LYIN EYES (“1975 Eagles hit”, homophone indicated by “on the radio”)
23d	*HERO(N)S	*SHORE (anagram indicated by “rocky”) containing (“is habitat for”) N (“northern”)
24d	P(EG)S	PS (“afterthought”) containing (“about”) EG (“for example”)
25d	_TEMPI_	ancien_T EMPI_res (hidden word indicated by “among”)